Alonso Would “Absolutely” Participate in Home Run Derby

Pete Alonso is one of the few players in baseball with 80 grade power as he’s shown already in a limited time in the big leagues.

It’s possible that we see that impressive power on the national stage in the Home Run Derby according to Tim Healey of Newsday. When asked about participating in the derby, Alonso said, “Absolutely, that would be a blast. That would be a hell of a time.”

There’s a new wrinkle to the Home Run Derby this year after the recent agreement between the MLBPA and MLB boosted the prize pool to $2.5 million overall and $1 million to the winner. (2018 amounts were $525,00 overall and $125,000 to winner).

The Mets 24-year-old first baseman has six home runs this season in his first 65 at-bats including this monster shot that went 454 feet and was 118.3 mph. He became only the third player in the Statcast era to have a homer go at least 450 feet and come at least 118 mph off the bat, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge are the other two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dg8_UQR97KM

The All-Star festivities will be held in Cleveland this year at Progressive Field with the Home Run Derby on July 8. Alonso is excited about the possibility of being chosen, “If I got invited, I’d love to do it. It’s something that’d be really fun. I’m sure during All-Star week it’d be an electric environment.”

The former second round pick hit 44 home runs in 2018 when you combine the regular season, Arizona Fall League, and special events. He already wowed fans on a national stage last year when he became in the first player in Statcast history (since 2015) to hit a homer with exit velocity over 113 (113.6 mph) and launch angle over 40 degrees (46 degrees).

David Wright in 2013 was the last Met player to participate in the Home Run Derby. An event that was won by now-Met Yoenis Cespedes. Bryce Harper narrowly beat Kyle Schwarber to take the title last year.

And before you start worrying about Alonso’s swing being ruined by the derby, multiple outlets (fivethirtyeight, Mike Petriello at MLB) have done studies on how that narrative is a myth.